By the end of the module you should be able to:

• Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of historical, sociological and cultural theorisations of consumption, and critically assess a range of frameworks and methodologies;
• Analyse the language of consumption, and representations and interventions in literature, visual culture and music;
• Critically consider notions of use, value, waste and decay in relation to consumption;
• Explore problems and generate well-informed responses to a wide range of issues relating to consumption;
• Demonstrate advanced cognitive skills such as critical analysis, source-text analysis, qualitative research methods, and oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrate meta-cognitive skills such as: planning how to approach a learning task and identifying the appropriate strategies to solve a problem; and
• Demonstrate the ability to use methodologies from disciplines including (but not limited to) sociology, visual cultures, history, literary studies, and cultural studies to analyse a range of sources in cultural and historical perspective.

Term 1

1. Introduction to consumption
2. Commodification and value
3. Conspicuous consumption: status and distinction
4. The nineteenth-century consumer society: The House of Mirth
5. Consumer sovereignty?: An economic perspective
6. Branding and advertising
7. A capitalist condition?: The culture industry
8. Consuming globally
9. Landscapes of consumption
10. A postmodern condition? Constructing the self

Term 2

1. Inconspicuous consumption: eating, drinking and everyday practices
2. Altered states: intoxication
3. The twentieth-century consumer society: American Psycho
4. “The sex of things”: gender and consumption
5. “Eating the other”: consuming cultures
6. Creative, cultural and heritage industries: collecting, culture and public consumption
7. Cultural production: consumption, commodification and entrepreneurship in UK grime
8. Consumer activism
9. The twenty-first century consumer society: sustainability and well-being
10. Review

Term 3

1. Research project guidance
2. Research project guidance
3. Research project guidance

• 1 x 1500 word text response paper (25%)
• 1 x 1500 word critical appraisal (25%)
• 1 x group presentation (10%)
• 1 x 3000 word research project, or equivalent output (40%)

The module’s reading list will encompass a range of theoretical and literary texts and you are required to conduct independent research. For illustration:

• Ashley, Bob. Food and Cultural Studies (Routledge, 2004)
• Baudrillard, Jean. Trans. Chris Turner. The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures (Sage, 1998)
• Bauman, Zygmunt. Consuming Life (Polity Press, 2007)
• Bocock, Robert. Consumption (Routledge, 1993)
• Bostrom, Magnus, Michelle Micheletti and Peter Oosterveer, eds. Oxford Handbook of Political Consumerism (Book in development with chapters published in advance online)
• Cook, Daniel Thomas, and J. Michael Ryan, The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)
• De Certeau, Michel. Trans. Steven Rendall. The Practice of Everyday Life (University of California Press, 1984)
• Ellis, Brett Easton. American Psycho (Random House, 1991)
• Featherstone, Mike. Consumer Culture and Postmodernism (Sage, 2007)
• Hilton, Matthew. Prosperity for All: Consumer Activism in an Era of Globalization. Ithaca: Cornell University
• Jackson, Tim. The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Consumption. London: Earthscan, 2006.
• Kravets, Olga, and Pauline Maclaran, Steven Miles and Alladi Ventakesh, eds. The Sage Handbook of Consumer Culture (Sage, 2018)
• Pettinger, Lynne. Work, Consumption and Capitalism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
• Reisch, Lucia A., and John Thøgersen. Handbook of Research on Sustainable Consumption (Edward Elgar, 2015)
• Ritzer, George. Enchanting a Disenchanted World: Continuity and Change in the Cathedrals of Consumption (Sage, 2010)
• Slater, Don. Consumer Culture and Modernity (Polity Press, 1997)
• Stillerman, Joel. The Sociology of Consumption (Polity Press, 2015)
• Thyroff, Anastasia E., Jeff B. Murray and Russell W. Belk (eds). Consumer Culture Theory (Emerald, 2015)
• Trentmann, Frank. Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers (Allen Lane, 2016)
• Trentmann, Frank (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the History of Consumption (Oxford University Press, 2012)
• Warde, Alan. Consumption: A Sociological Analysis (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
• Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class (Modern Library, 2001)
• Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth (Oxford University Press, 2008)

Through this module, you will develop different skills that are sought by employers which will support your professional development. We have highlighted this to enable you to identify and reflect on the skills you have acquired and apply them throughout your professional journey including during the recruitment process whether this is in a CV/application form or at an interview.

• Project management and organisation: Working on an open-brief research project involving all stages from initial assessment, planning, secondary research, primary data gathering, to producing an appropriate output to disseminate findings. Students are expected to make decisions about content, methodology and output in the Research Project.
• Teamwork: Sharing knowledge, expertise and good practice with peers to form collaborative responses to a range of problems; collaborating with peers on project brief (Assessment 3), including research, analysis and verbal and visual presentation of findings.
• Communication: Communicating for different audiences and purposes, throughout the weekly classes and in assessment. Communication styles: teaching (when working in groups to share independent research); argument/persuasion (frequently in-class discussion; in all assessments); verbal (in class; in assessed presentation); written (in three written assessments); communication to small and larger audiences (small group work and whole-class discussion).